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Council to consider new subdivision

Palmer Development (Northern) Corp. will ask city council to approve a rezoning application that would see a subdivision created north of Sherwood Parkway.

The 59-lot subdivision, to be built on 17.4 acres of property east of Peoples Road, would consist mostly of middle class single-detached homes with some semi and townhouse units.

The rezoning application will be heard at the Dec. 3 council meeting.

The property was originally approved for a similar draft subdivision in the 1970s and then again in 1994 but shelved, said developer Terry Rainone.

“We want to upgrade it to today's standards and we'll probably start this winter on the first phase,” if approved by council at its Dec. 3 meeting, he said.

Some services to the north side of Sherwood Parkway are already in the ground and land has been cleared for a roadway.

Rainone is requesting from the city a draft subdivision approval to develop the 59-lot mixed residential subdivision and rezone the property to include low density residential for 56 lots and medium density residential for three end lots.

Rainone expects that the development would be built in two phases with the market dictating that, he said.

City planning director Don McConnell said that some of the services are already in the ground, based on plans the former property owner had started.

The most recent submission follows along the same design as what had been proposed in the 1970s, McConnell said, and the plan fits well with the area.

The city's planning department has seen several applications for new subdivisions presented in the past few months.

McConnell said developers usually like to keep a supply of lots available and ready to build in various parts of the city so they are ready when needed.

On average, about 100 residential units are built annually in Sault Ste. Marie.

“You get into a problem if you have under the market demand because that drives up prices,” McConnell said.

Sault Ste. Marie was listed as the No. 2 spot in the affordable housing category (average house price/time to buy a house) in the Money-Sense Magazine's annual survey of the best places to live in Canada.

The reasonable supply of lots available at reasonable prices is attributed to the high ranking, McConnell said.

In all, Sault placed in the 60th spot of the best places to live in the 180 towns and cities with populations above 10,000 included in the survey. Of the large Northern Ontario urban centres, only Thunder Bay ranked higher, placing 46th on the list.

Rainone said Sault Ste. Marie had a large surplus of available lots in the early 1990s but those numbers have been slowly dwindling.

The housing market in recent years has been very strong and there is a need for new lots in Sault Ste. Marie, he said.

“There is a demand for single family homes,” he said.

Rainone also recognizes the need for townhouse units that might appeal to area residents with the growing numbers of seniors in the community.

“I'm looking forward to getting council's approval and in filling property with a plan that never went forward and continue what was started and have it be a nice development,” Rainone said.

At the last council meeting, council approved the rezoning of property from rural area to residential to allow for the development of a subdivision that will see the former Canadian Martyr School site be converted into high-end townhouse units at the north end of Greenfield Drive.

That plan will see the creation of 16 rental townhouses at the edge of the Urban Settlement Area. Construction is expected to begin in the spring.